The Virgin Islands Modern Foreign Language Association (VIMFLA) St. Thomas/St. John Chapter and the St. Thomas/St. John District Foreign Language Program are pleased to announce the selection of Ms. Sherry Marcia Hodge, Spanish teacher of theCharlotte AmalieHigh School, as the fifth recipient of the Foreign Language Teacher of the Year Award. This award recognizes best practices and excellence in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Ms. Hodge 2012-13 Foreign Language Teacher of the Year (FLTOY) was nominated and unanimously approved as the foreign language teacher of the year by VIMFLA Board Members and District Judges. The official presentation of the award will be made at a dinner ceremony planned for Saturday, the 19th of May, 2012.
Hodge, whose teaching career spans 10 years, is a Virgin Islands Board of Education Certified Spanish and French Secondary Educator. Ms. Hodge, a native of Anguilla, has been teaching Spanish in theVirgin Islandssince 2008. She taught six years in Anguilla’s public schools before coming to theVirgin Islands. Sherry Hodge actively participates in all district sponsored events. Her many professional accomplishments include sponsoring the Charlotte Amalie High School Spanish Club. She has organized a two –week educational class/club trip toSpainandPortugal. Her International and Unveiled Gems Dinner functions, two fund raisers for the Spanish Club, are quickly becoming annual events of distinction. She participates in her schools’ programs in observance of National Foreign Languages Month (March). Every year since April 2008 her students have participated in the Foreign Language Cultural Showcase (generally the first Saturday in April). Under her direction, her students have created winning piñatas, copies of the masters and theme posters for the event.
Ms. Hodge believes that “language and culture are undeniably interconnected as they both improve students’ cognitive, linguistic and communicative skills as well as their intellectual capacity”. Her first language is English and her second and third languages are Spanish and French respectively. As a second language learner, she can identify first-hand with her students and can share with them her experiences learning a world language. She is a great role model for her learners one who can truthfully attest that learning and mastering another language is possible.
This outstanding educator continuously seeks to improve her skills by participating in all district sponsored workshops and in-service sessions. Ms. Hodge obtained her B.A.educational degree with a major in Spanish and a minor in French from the University of theWest Indies. She had the fortune of participating in a six week Cultural and Linguistic Immersion program in Spanish Language at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2001. Ms. Hodge is presently working to obtain her Master’s Degree in the Teaching of English as a Second Language.
Ms. Sherry Marcia Hodge is an active VIMFLA member and as such she has made presentations to her colleagues on Differentiating Instruction in the Foreign Language Classroom. She has also served as Secretary of this prestigious organization. As VIMFLA’s Foreign Language Teacher of the Year, she will represent the Territory at the Regional level at the Southern Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ (SCOLT’s) competition in April 2013. If successful at the regional level, Ms. Hodge will compete in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ (ACTFL’s) National Teacher of the Year competition in November of 2013.
Ms. Sherry Hodge will receive a commemoratory plaque, gifts, and a floral arrangement courtesy of the Foreign Language Program and VIMFLA. In addition, she will receive a gift bag courtesy of the St. Thomas/St. John District. VIMFLA will also provide up to $1,000.00 of her travel expenses to SCOLT. Congratulations to Ms. Sherry Hodge on her well deserved award!
For more information on the Foreign Language Teacher of the Year or if you would like to contribute to the program, contact Myrna V. van Beverhoudt, VIMFLA’s Resident Agent and the District’s Foreign Languages Coordinator at myrnavanbvi@yahoo.com, mvanbeverhoudt@sttj.k12.vi or at (340) 775-2250 ext. 8540.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
